Top Things You Missed IN Retail

AiFi, the most flexible AI platform that enables retailers to affordably deploy autonomous shopping solutions, was selected by Phoenix Raceway to continue using its autonomous retail technology after a test launch with both AiFi and Amazon Go systems at the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship in November. AiFi demonstrated such success that Phoenix Raceway will bring the AiFi store back for the next NASCAR race in the spring of 2023.

Full Article ›

Radisson Hotel Group announced its partnership with KRUSH Brands, the region’s full-stack, fully-integrated, omnichannel food and beverage (F&B) company, to cater freshly-cooked foods for the wider community. With the first location in Radisson RED Silicon Oasis launched last October 2022, Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) continues to lead the transformation across the region by driving greater value for its guests, partners, and communities.

Full Article ›

Ultrafast delivery service Getir shared its rear-view look at 2022, highlighting top trends among users. Befitting a business built and defined by technology, Getir used AI-generated data to uncover purchasing habits.

Full Article ›

Thanks to an ongoing partnership with food technology company Apeel Sciences, UK grocer Asda is beginning to make positive strides toward reaching its goal of reducing food waste by 20% by 2025. Apeel’s edible, plant-based coating extends the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables by keeping moisture in and oxygen out.

Full Article ›

Today's restaurant consumer is a digital consumer, expecting a seamless, enjoyable and rewarding digital dining experience from the moment they tap an app to place an order to reviewing loyalty rewards and communicating with a brand. Meeting the digital consumer's expectations and demands is all about providing and extending hospitality.

Full Article ›

Ikea is no stranger to embracing efficient technologies that help reduce the brand’s carbon footprint. The latest big move from the Allen-wrench-included furniture maker sees the company using three-wheeled electric bikes with solar panels for a home delivery pilot.

Full Article ›

Radisson Hotel Group announced its partnership with KRUSH Brands, the region’s full-stack, fully-integrated, omnichannel food and beverage (F&B) company, to cater freshly-cooked foods for the wider community. With the first location in Radisson RED Silicon Oasis launched last October 2022, Radisson Hotel Group (RHG) continues to lead the transformation across the region by driving greater value for its guests, partners, and communities.

Full Article ›

An American Eagle subsidiary whose digital network enables retailers to fulfill online orders using the fastest and cheapest carrier available is on a nationwide hunt for warehouse space. Helping the company—called Quiet Platforms— to do that will be global retail services provider JLL through a partnership announced this week. Under the agreement, the two companies will seek to pioneer a flexible rent-as-a-percentage-of-revenue model for logistics real estate.

Full Article ›

Piggly Wiggly Midwest is piloting a focal operating system aimed at digitizing a store in order to automate and optimize ordering, inventory management, merchandising and in-store labor in a quest to drive a better customer experience. The technology, from Focal Systems, leverages artificial intelligence and is testing in Wisconsin and Illinois stores, according to a press release.

Full Article ›

The U.S. Postal Service has big near-term plans involving battery electric delivery vehicles. As part of a larger 106,000-vehicle acquisition plan for deliveries between 2022 and 2028, the Postal Service expects to acquire at least 66,000 battery electric delivery vehicles. The vehicles purchased as part of this anticipated plan will begin to replace the Postal Service's aging delivery fleet of over 220,000 vehicles.

Full Article ›

Entrepreneur and reality star Kim Kardashian is using QR codes in a new ad for her skincare brand Skkn by Kim — a move made in partnership with technology company Flowcode that she hopes will help the six-month-old brand foster long-term relationships with consumers.

Full Article ›

Amazon welcomed the outside world to its new robotics manufacturing facility, BOS27, in Westborough, Mass. But the 350,000-square-foot facility—which opened in October 2021 and brings together research and development labs—was only part of the draw. Amazon unveiled a number of new technical innovations set to be deployed across its operations, including a lighter, more durable drone for deliveries and a new robotic system than can handle individual product sorting.

Full Article ›

Best Buy has teamed up with live commerce platform TalkShopLive to offer customers the option for in-store pickup for the first time through the platform.

Full Article ›

The rewards program is powered by Stuzo's Open Commerce product suite and designed to provide a personalized customer experience with targeted offers for specific store locations, as Convenience Store News reported.

Full Article ›

Retailers throughout the pandemicpoured investments into e-commerce, as many questioned whether or not shoppers would ever return in full pressure to bodily shops. Two years on, shoppers are returning. E-commerce is now 16.4% of all retail buying, down from 18.8% on the peak of the pandemic, in accordance with the National Retail Federation.

Full Article ›

The formula for packaging has grown exponentially more complicated as consumer goods companies and brands have sought to simplify processes, cut unnecessary costs, and keep an eye toward sustainability. With Amazon working as a mammoth fulfillment center, the company has had to elevate its structure, reinventing how products are shipped “for the good of customers and the planet.” It has done so by tapping into advanced algorithms and machine learning, with recyclability in mind.  

Full Article ›

Sporting goods company Puma North America (NA) is rolling out radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at 135 stores throughout the continent following a three-store pilot. The solution has provided a 2 percent increase in sales, the company reports, based on improved inventory accuracy. The system consists of Nedap Retail's iD Cloud software platform, as well as UHF RFID tags, readers and printers at each store.

Full Article ›

UK hotel technology company Journey Hospitality has added Apple Pay and Google Pay to onejourney hotel ecommerce platform to better facilitate the online booking and payment experience for hotel guests. 

Full Article ›

More companies are turning away from traditional market research datasets, looking toward more specialized alternatives that provide deeper, localized benefits. Yum Brands and Mars, for example, are leveraging spatial analytics to lead a massive international expansion and zone in on behavior and location insights to plan their growth strategies.

Full Article ›

U.S. retail sales rose 7.6 percent during the holidays this year, despite inflation pressures and recession fears. The year-over-year bump recorded by Mastercard’s SpendingPulse tracker during the holiday period of Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 was lower than the 8.8 percent increase from 2020 to 2021, but exceeded the 7.1 percent forecasted this year.

Full Article ›

Aldi chief executive Giles Hurley has hinted at major plans for the supermarket’s click-and-collect, which is currently available in 200 of its stores. Hurley told shoppers to “watch this space” when it came to rolling out the service across more of its locations.

Full Article ›

Dollar Shave Club is migrating its homegrown subscription technology to the Ordergroove platform, in partnership with Shopify Plus. The “subscription-first” DTC brand is seeking to move away from building and maintaining out-of-the-box capabilities to creating differentiated subscription experiences for its members.

Full Article ›

Since the beginning of the third quarter, Ulta Beauty has introduced a new layout in about 44 stores to better showcase its mass and prestige categories, improve navigation, enhance the services experience and create more opportunities for discovery. Compared to its last extensive merchandising overhaul, in 2018, Ulta Beauty’s latest update increasingly emphasizes its service offerings.

Full Article ›

Walmart Canada has integrated Western Union’s platform into Walmart.ca to offer customers money transfers. In addition, the two companies have extended their relationship, letting customers use Western Union money transfer services in Walmart stores for 5% less than the nationally published consumer fee rate.

Full Article ›

Amazon.com Inc. is trying to sell excess space on its cargo planes, according to people familiar with the matter, its latest effort to adjust from a rapid pandemic-era expansion to a slowdown in online growth. 

Full Article ›

One of America’s largest independent furniture retailers is directly connecting third-party sellers to its customers. Mathis Home is rolling out Mathis Marketplace, an online home furnishings marketplace featuring a curated selection of products from third-party sellers, as well its existing collections. Mathis Marketplace runs on the Mirakl SaaS-based enterprise marketplace technology platform, and Merkle supported its implementation.

Full Article ›

Retailers need to digitally engage customers at every touchpoint. Tatiana Sivaeva, partner, McKinsey & Company, recently sat down with Chain Store Age to share insight into why digital commerce will continue to grow, how retailers can best digitally engage shoppers, and the importance of headless commerce.

Full Article ›

The two restaurant brands expand their partnership with Budderfly. The Energy Efficiency as a Service is targeting a 30% reduction in energy consumption for each restaurant, which will avert more than 15,000 megawatt hours annually.

Full Article ›

With the rate of inflation in the United States at a 40-year high of 7.5%, and geopolitical strife threatening to take prices even higher, there are only a handful of grocery retailers in a unique position to leverage these crises into drivers of business. At the top of that list of food retailers is Walmart.

Full Article ›

Walmart is in the midst of a major overhaul, looking to transform its business from top to bottom. While many recent improvements have targeted the digital shopping space, the company has also been heavily investing in its infrastructure, logistics, and supply chain. Some of the areas of focus include Canada and Mexico, where Walmart’s investments are increasing the speed of fulfillment.

Full Article ›

As Anheuser-Busch InBev plots its future, expect its sprawling BEES e-commerce business to play an increasingly central role — ultimately becoming the primary method in which the company sells. A B2B digital platform that’s currently live in 16 countries and accessible via a mobile app, BEES has been a key component of AB InBev’s strategy for today’s new commerce environment.

Full Article ›

Today is the last day Carrefour customers in France can order Christmas gifts via WhatsApp. Since the firm launched a new social commerce initiative on Dec. 5, customers in its home base of France have been able to order items via the “Carrefour Father Christmas” bot on WhatsApp, after which they are directed to the company’s website for payment before items are dispatched for delivery.

Full Article ›

FedEx Express has expanded the testing of electric carts to five New York City locations as it seeks to boost delivery efficiency in dense urban areas.

Full Article ›

General Mills’s investments in acquiring first-party data continue to pay off as the consumer goods company builds out its connected commerce strategy. General Mills has increased its investments in digital and technology by more than $100 million over the past few years, company leaders said in an earnings call today, and it expects to grow these investments by double digits in 2023. 

Full Article ›

Infor announced its expanded partnership with Oliver Hospitality. As part of Oliver Hospitality’s commitment to delivering unique experiences at each of its concepts, Infor HMS has previously been implemented at five properties to enhance guest stays, and unify and refine hotel operations. Now, Oliver Hospitality has decided to expand its work with Infor for its new Marconi Conference Center location just outside of Marshall, California.

Full Article ›

Kellogg Company is changing the way the almost 12 million adults in the U.S. who are blind or have low vision* perform daily tasks, such as navigating a grocery store aisle or choosing one's cereal at breakfast. To help create a place at the table, Kellogg is incorporating innovative NaviLens technology into the packaging of four of its iconic cereal brands: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Special K Original, Rice Krispies and Crispix.

Full Article ›

Kroger Co. said on Friday that its Kroger Health division has reached an agreement with Prime Therapeutics for Kroger’s pharmacies to remain in-network at the pharmacy benefit management company effective Jan. 1, 2023.

Full Article ›

Piggly Wiggly Midwest is piloting a focal operating system aimed at digitizing a store in order to automate and optimize ordering, inventory management, merchandising and in-store labor in a quest to drive a better customer experience. The technology, from Focal Systems, leverages artificial intelligence and is testing in Wisconsin and Illinois stores, according to a press release.

Full Article ›

A nationwide shoplifting epidemic is crippling the finances of brick-and-mortar retailers, which warn that they may be forced to raise prices or even shutter stores in order to offset tens of billions of dollars in lost inventory. The National Retail Foundation is estimating that it lost $94.5 billion last year due to “shrink” — an industry term that means lost inventory — which is being blamed primarily on shoplifting.

Full Article ›

Unilever has transformed this space, launching a frictionless, digital tool that allows retailers to easily stock up on ice cream whenever needed. Additionally, the company has rolled out several innovative pilots, including smart freezers that automatically detect out-of-stocks, location data-optimized delivery, and automated WhatsApp chatbot functionality to communicate inventory needs.

Full Article ›